Whitecaps starters, sitters buy into depth as a ‘great thing’

Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun Columnist04.25.2014

Head coach Carl Robinson gives directions to Vancouver Whitecaps players at their UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Midfielder Pedro Morales practises with the Vancouver Whitecaps at their UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Vancouver Whitecaps captain Jay DeMerit practises with the team at its UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Head coach Carl Robinson gives directions to Vancouver Whitecaps players at their UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Head coach Carl Robinson gives directions to Vancouver Whitecaps players at their UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Gershon Koffie practises with the team at its UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Vancouver Whitecaps players get stuck in during their practice at the team’s UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Vancouver Whitecaps centre back Johnny Leveron at the team’s practice at its UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Centre back Andy O’Brien practises with the Vancouver Whitecaps at their UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Gershon Koffie practises with the team at its UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Russell Teibert practises with the team at its UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Vancouver Whitecap Kekuta Manneh practises with the Vancouver Whitecaps at their UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Russell Teibert practises with the team at its UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

Carl Robinson, head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps, gives direction to his players while veteran centre back Andy O’Brien watches during the team’s practice at their UBC-based training facility in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, 2014, ahead of Saturday’s Major League Soccer game at Real Salt Lake in Utah.Jenelle Schneider
/ SUN

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VANCOUVER — The Green Team was highly impressive at the Vancouver Whitecaps’ practice.

The central midfield was anchored by Pedro Morales, the Major League Soccer team’s best player, and cornerstone Gershon Koffie. Captain Jay DeMerit marshalled the defence.

The squad in green pinnies would have looked even stronger had Nigel Reo-Coker, the engine room of the team last season, not been missing due to illness. But it was still a talented side.

But what was most impressive about that Thursday 11-on-11 practice session at UBC was that the players in green weren’t expected to start in Saturday’s MLS game at Salt Lake City (6:30 p.m., CTV2, Team 1410). The players in orange pinnies were the Whitecaps’ projected starters.

That, of course, could change when manager Carl Robinson fills out his lineup for Saturday evening’s game against Real Salt Lake. But what won’t change is uncertainty for players who have been purged by Robinson and the Whitecaps’ improved lineup depth of any complacency about their place on a team still trying to rise above mediocrity in MLS.

“It’s a great thing for the club,” Robinson said Thursday. “Any successful sports organizations, I think you need strength in depth.

“I’m not here to be friends with everyone and I won’t be friends with everyone. But I will be respectful of every single player. Will they be happy that they won’t play? No, they won’t.”

The depth of the lineup was so thin the last couple of seasons — there was no other way to explain the perplexing weekly appearances of Jun Marques Davidson — the Whitecaps had starters by default.

Reo-Coker, for instance, was welded into the lineup, starting in 31 of his 32 appearances in the MLS regular season and leading the Whitecaps in minutes played. Koffie, too, was semi-automatic.

But Reo-Coker, so valuable that the Whitecaps nearly doubled his salary this season and made the 29-year-old Englishman their third-highest paid player at $447,000, spent the entirety of the last two games on Robinson’s bench after returning from a self-inflicted head injury.

And Koffie has started only four of seven games this season and appears to be coming back out of the first 11 after playing what Robinson said was the 22-year-old’s best game of the season in last weekend’s 2-2 tie against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

“It comes down to the manager’s decision, but you have to give it all you have at training and when your chance comes, you take it,” Koffie said. “Most teams win from the bench. So if your bench is strong, you have a chance to win.”

But going in and out of the lineup must be frustrating.

“Not really because I know I’m giving everything I can at practice,” Koffie said. “And the manager talks to me and says this is what we’re going to do, so the communication is very good. You might go in in the second minute (as a substitute). Anything can happen. It’s up to the manager.”

Yes, it is.

Robinson has not only shown a willingness to sit down players accustomed to playing, he has also been far quicker than the coach he succeeded, Martin Rennie, to make changes during a game.

Against L.A., Robinson removed regular starter Russell Teibert at halftime to get dynamic attacker Kekuta Manneh in to run at Galaxy defenders.

“He believes in every player in this locker room, has confidence in every player,” Teibert said of Robinson. “If he’s making a sub, it’s for the benefit of the team on that day.

“Some guys who would be a staple last year are getting switched out, but that just shows the quality we have in this locker room. Every week, you’ve got to be putting in (the effort) because if you’re not, the boss has other guys capable of doing the job.”

There is other player evidence of the Whitecaps’ improved depth. Manneh, the most dangerous forward one-on-one, has started only one of seven games. Clever Uruguayan halfback Nicolas Mezquida, always impressive at training, has logged only 33 minutes this season.

And while Morales’ second-team designation in practice was a matter of fitness, as the Chilean star has struggled in recent weeks with minor injuries possibly caused by his first season on artificial turf, DeMerit appears to be coming out of the lineup to give Johnny Leveron a start.

“Everyone always wants to play,” DeMerit, 34, said. “I think the thing to focus on there is to always put the squad first. Myself and Nigel, we’ve been around for a long time and been on both sides of that coin. For me, it’s not hard to take. It’s part of what we do and part of the development of the young guys, and that’s just as important as the old guys playing every minute.

“To have the depth that we do is a great asset. We’ve got a lot of games coming up. It’s hard to keep 25 guys happy. But in a way, when you have 20 guys that can play, it’s a great problem to have.”

The Whitecaps’ deeper talent pool, especially in midfield, has resulted in more entertaining and generally better play this season. But not, so far, better results. After going 2-0-2 in March, the team is winless in April (0-2-1) and clinging to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

But competing within the team is vital to being able to compete against other teams, and Vancouver is better positioned to do that now than during its first three MLS seasons.

“You need your players to stay positive,” Manneh said. “I think we have that. You can see that through the dressing room and in the games, everybody has a positive mind. It’s difficult not playing every single week, but you just have to be tough and deal with it. Everybody will get their chances.”

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Whitecaps starters, sitters buy into depth as a ‘great thing’

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